Adjustable collar stay



Nov. 24, 1953 2,659,892

F. L. SHARP ET AL ADJUSTABLE COLLAR STAY Filed Oct. 1 1951 Fred L. Sharp Char/es L .LeYfu/yler 4 INVENTOR.

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ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 24, 1953 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE Fred Lamont Sharp and Charles Linder Levtwyler, Austin, Tex.

Application October 1, 1951, Serial No. 249,132

5 Claims.

The invention relates to a collar stay of the type which men wear in order to retain the collar of the shirt in a neat and attractive position which prevents the tips of the collar from curling upwardly and outwardly.

In shirt collars as they are now worn the collar is folded over and ironed down at the laundry and the shirt delivered to the owner usually with a cardboard attached for preventing the wrinkling of the shirt, but once the owner puts on the shirt the tips of the collar soon curl upwardly and outwardly and present an untidy appearance. Usually this untidy appearance occurs shortly after the shirt is'put in service and by middle of the afternoon or evening of each day the shirt collar has an appearance which is not at all attractive.

The present collar stay is of a type which may be readily inserted and worn with the ordinary type of folded over collar and holds the tips or ing upon the length of the tip of the collar on the shirt which is being worn.

Another object of the invention is that the vertical piece that adheres to the collar shall be adjustable around the curved portion which lies closely under the fold of the collar and is curved around the neckband, because in some shirts this adjustment is necessary.

Another object of the invention is to provide the horizontal piece with a slotted portion and the vertical piece with a clamping portion which i may be clamped to the horizontal piece and then adjusted by the wearer to affix the collar stay so as to obtain the advantage of a neat appearance.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a vertical piece of the collar stay with an adjustable portion which is adjustable accor ing to the length of the collar being worn and to which it is applied so as to adjust it manually and obtain the arrangement desired.

Another object of the invention is to provide an extension on the vertical piece of the collar stay which is spring fitted and will ordinarily extend itself in the collar to obtain a neat and attractive appearance.

Another object of the invention is to afiix the vertical piece of the collar stay to the horizontal piece with a clamp so that the parts may be adjusted to assume the desired position.

Other and further objects of the invention will be apparent when the following description is considered in connection with the accompanying drawing herein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the collar stay applied to a collar and shown in dotted lines as holding the collar in position.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the horizontal and the vertical pieces clamped together and adjusted to accommodate the desired vertical position.

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 4 is a broken elevational view of a springpressed type of extension for the vertical piece of the collar stay.

In Fig. 1 the collar stay is shown as having,

been applied to the collar 2 which is of the folded over type usually found in mens shirts. Very often the point or tip 3 thereof curls upwardly and presents an untidy appearance, especially as compared with the necktie 4, which is well tied and pulled tight to remain in position in the middle opening 5 wherein the shirt collar has been buttoned together. Point 8 on each side where the collar has been folded over presents a neat enough appearance, but it is the tip portion 3 which does not lay closely adjacent the body in the ordinary shirt construction as manufactured and sold.

The present invention resides, therefore, in a collar stay which is shown generally at ill in the form of a horizontal piece and at II in the form of a vertical piece. The two pieces generally constitute the entire collar stay.

In Fig. 2 these parts It! and H are shown, In being in the form a piece curved at M so that it follows the contour of the neckline of the collar and will lie closely underneath the folded collar 6. Preferably it terminates at I5 closely adjacent the collar and will remain in position out of sight so that the ordinary person is not aware of its presence and it lays with the top edge I! closely adjacent the fold of the shirt and with the end l8 'extending'around the neckline sufficiently to hold the horizontal piece 10 in po sition. This horizontal piece H] is presented with a slot 26 which extends from close to the end 16 a considerable distance around the contour of the horizontal piece. This slot is particularly provided so as to allow for adjustment of the vertical piece H and particularly the clamping portion 22 thereof which is bent somewhat at 23 so as to pass upwardly beneath the portion 24, which constitutes that part of the piece beneath the slot 20. The part 22 extends upwardly a distance to where it terminates at 25 sufficiently to abut the horizontal portion 26 above the slot 20. In this manner the bent back portion 22 serves as a support behind the horizontal portion and the punched out tongue at 30 is shown as being bent forward at 3| so as to allow the insertion at 32 of the portion 24 between these parts of the vertical portion so as to form the clamping action 35 where the tongue has been inserted through the split 36 formed in the body of 'the vertical piece at 22. The split portion at 36 is then brought together so as to hold the clamped end 35 in position and keep the vertical piece from becoming loosened from the horizontal piece.

It can be observedthere will be a slight amount of friction so that the vertical piece H- can be adjusted at will along the part 24 of the horizontal piece.

The vertical piece, as seen in Figs. 2 and 3, is preferably formed with projections 40- which are in the form of small knobs which are spaced so as to allow adjustment of the extension 4| along these various knobs. The vertical piece isbent backwardly at 42 adjacent 'to the lower end and formed with an opening 43- in the bent back portion 44 so as to hold the extended portion 4| which is similarly formed at 45 so that the loop 46 may slide over the knobs with a frictional engagement and the lower end 41 of this extension may, if desired, be engaged with the tip 3 of the collar and hold it in position Many shirts are formed with an opening which receives this end 41 so that the collar stay will tend to hold the collar definitely in position when it is adjusted to the right length. It will be necessary only to insert the collar stay and if desired hook it into position.

Fig. 4 shows a modification of the end of vertical piece H which is provided with a vertical slot in which is mounted an extension 4| which projects from slot 60 through an opening Si in the lower end of piece If. A coi1 spring 62 is mounted in slot 60 about a core 64 and has its upper end secured at the upper end of slot 66' and its lower end secured to a guide collar 63 carried by the upper end of extension 4i and slidable on core 6 whereby the extension 4| will be biased downwardly by the action of spring 62- to hold the point of the shirt collar in extended position.

Broadly, the invention contemplates a collar stay made up in two portions, which may be adjusted as desired to obtain a neat appearance.

What is claimedis:

1. A collar stay, comprising, an arcuate plate element adapted to fit beneath the fold of a folded over collar, said plate element having a longitudinally extending elongated slot formed therein, a vertical stay member adjustable in length to stiffen a tab of the collar, a clamp formed at the upper end of the stay member received in said slot for lateral sliding movement therein relative to the plate element whereby said. stay member may be adapted for use for various types of collar.

2. A collar stay as defined by claim 1, wherein said stay member comprises a pair of sections, means connecting the sections for relative longitudinal adjustment whereby to vary the length of the stay member, and means for retaining said sectionsin longitudinally adjusted relation.

3. A collar stay as defined by claim 1, wherein said stay member comprises a pair of sections, means connecting the sections for relative longitudinal adjustment whereby to vary the length of the stay member, spring means mounted. between the sections to urge one of the sections to longitudinally extended position relative to. the other section, and means for retaining said sec-- tions in longitudinally adjusted relation.

4. An adjustable collar stay, comprising, an elongate horizontal support member adapted to be positioned beneath a shirt collar adjacent the neck fold thereof. atone side of a collar opening, saidsupport member having an elongatedlongitudinally extending slot therein, an elongate stiffening member extending substantially vertically downwardly from. the horizontal member, and a connector element carried by the upper end of the stilfening member engaged in said slot to slide laterally therein.

5. An adjustable collar stay as defined by claim 4, wherein said connector element comprises a bifurcated clamp having arms enclosing the portion of the support member defining the lower wall of said slot, and engaged with each other within the slot.

FRED LAMONT SHARP. CHARLES LINDER LEV'IWYLER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 811,326 Reynolds Jan. 30, 1906 2,454,076 Marx et a1 Nov. 16, 1948 2,456,887 Morrison Nov. 16, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 497,128 Great Britain Dec. 13', I938 

